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An overview of Nepal's Sanskrit Buddhist Manuscripts in Japan
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Sanskrit Buddhist Manuscripts
Prof. Shanker Thapa, Ph. D.*
Newār Buddhism
Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts of Nepal are exceptionally important in the study of Mahayana Buddhism. The Buddhist Newārs of Kathmandu valley has significantly contributed in the preservation of literary heritage of Mahayāna Buddhism for almost 1000 years. The literary heritage of Sanskrit manuscripts is the most significant aspects of Newār Buddhism.
Buddhism of Nepal is the Vajrayāna tradition, which is literally called ‘Newār Buddhism’. It is the continuity of Indian Buddhism in the Himalaya having close ties with Buddhism that lingered on in remote corners of Bengal and Indonesia. Its canonical language is Sanskrit but preaching of the religious matters took place in old Newāri. Newār Buddhism is a conservative tradition which always understood to be a part of the profound Indian tradition and sought authenticity from Indic precedents. Since the 13th century, this tradition has undergone profound changes within its structure. The major change occurred far is the ritual transformation of Buddhism itself ceasing the practice of celibate monasticism.
As the religion of the Newār people, Vajrayāna tradition of Nepal has marked two important developments, firstly, the intellectual development leading to enhancement of profound Buddhist scholarship, and, secondly, the literary tradition that materialized proliferation and preservation of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts. Those texts preserved in Nepal are written in Newāri scripts. At the same time, a great deal of indigenous Buddhist texts such as Puranas, ritual songs, eulogies, hymns, stories, ritual books, rules of fasting etc. are also contributed by the Newār Pandits.
Buddhist Manuscripts of Nepal
Nepal is the only place in the world to have vast collection of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts. Nepalese manuscripts are very important to study Mahayana/Vajrayāna Buddhism. Eugene Burnouf, a renowned French scholar opines – The genuine sources through which it may be possible to know Indian Buddhism, the original and purest sources, are the Sanskrit texts from Nepal. This view is sufficient to know about the significance of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts of Nepal.
The literary resource of Newār Buddhism is the corpus of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts written in Nālandā, Vikramśīla and other Buddhist centers. Nepal turned into the center of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts after the Muslim invasion of Northern India at the end of 12th century.. Nepal has contributed to preserve Buddhist texts intact for more than 1000 years. Nepal inherited literary heritage of Sanskrit Buddhism from India. The mass arrival of expatriate Indian monks after the Muslim invasion ultimately contributed to develop Buddhist scholarship, inherit the literary tradition of Sanskrit Buddhism and develop Nepal as the center of excellence. Consequently, Nepal remained as popular destination for Tibetans to study Mahayāna/Vajrayāna Buddhism. Nepal is the storehouse of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts, the authentic sources of Mahayāna/Vajrayāna Buddhism. Preservation of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts is extremely important to preserve authentic Indian Buddhism. The movement of Sanskrit manuscripts outside Nepal further contributed in the expansion of Indian Buddhism in the original form. For this, Nepal’s Sanskrit manuscripts are extremely valuable.
Brian Hodgson, a great British scholar and British Residency official in Kathmandu (19th C) has revealed that Nepal is the warehouse of Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts. He procured vast collection of such manuscripts and later distributed to various institutions in India, United Kingdom, France and Russia. Then after, foreign collectors drew their attention to procure Buddhist manuscripts in Nepal. Indian expatriate monks who visited countries in the North also carried Nepalese manuscripts with them. At present, a considerable number of Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts exist in Tibet, China, Japan and some European countries. Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts are extremely important in the study of authentic Mahayana Buddhism. Those manuscripts are the most precious gift of Nepal to the world community. It has contributed to preserve Mahayana Buddhism in the most authentic form.
Japanese Interest on Manuscripts
Due to thesignificance of Nepalese manuscripts, Japanese scholars and monks also took keen interest on them. Ven. Ekai Kawaguchi and Prof. Takakushu Junijiro realizing significance of Nepalese manuscripts paid attention to procure them during the first decade of the 20th century. They are the pioneers among the Japanese collectors of Nepalese manuscripts. Since then, several Japanese scholars worked on them. At present, a considerable amount of Nepalese manuscripts are deposited in various University libraries, archives and research centers in Japan. Buddhist Library in Nagoya alone has extensive collection of microfilms of Nepalese manuscripts. It is the most significant Sanskrit manuscript library in Japan. Buddhist manuscripts of Nepal now preserved in Japan are exceptionally important. They are the resources of authentic Indo-Newār Buddhism.
Not much has been written on Japan’s contribution in the study of Nepalese Buddhist manuscripts available in Japan. Japanese scholars did comprehensive work on those manuscripts. Thus, they have rendered invaluable contribution in the study of authentic Indian Buddhism through Nepalese Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts..
Nepalese Buddhist manuscripts are now preserved in various places in Japan. Those include the libraries of Tokyo, Kyoto, Tokai, Taisho, Soka, Ryukoku, Bukkyo and Tohoku Universities, the Institute of Oriental Philosophy and the Toyo Bunko. However, the collection of Ven. Ekai Kawaguchi is considered significant and historical. Kawaguchi collected Sanskrit manuscript in Nepal and Tibet. He also translated several texts such as Saddharmapundarīka Sūtra, Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra, Śrīmālādevī Sūtra and Guhyasamāja Tantra into Japanese. Prof. Takakushu Junijiro who had accompanied Kawaguchi to Nepal also procured Sanskrit manuscript. His collection contains 180 volumes of manuscripts whereas Kawaguchi procured 390 books of Buddhist manuscript. Altogether, they handed over altogether 570 Nepalese Buddhist manuscripts to the Tokyo University Library in 1915.
Buddhist Library in Nagoya is a fine Sanskrit manuscript library in Japan. Ven. Takaoka Sucho is the one who has realized the religious and academic significance of Nepalese manuscripts and managed to microfilm them in Kathmandu. They have gone through with various manuscript collections in Nepal. They accomplished the project before ‘Nepal German Manuscripts Preservation Project’ <NGMPP> started microfilming Nepalese Buddhist manuscripts extensively.
Tokai University Library also has Nepalese Buddhist manuscripts in its collection. There are altogether 95 manuscript titles. Manuscripts in this collection belong to the Sūtra, Tantra, Avadāna, Jātaka, Dhāranī, Stotra, Pujāvidhi, Mantra, Pranidhāna, Stotra and commentary categories.
The Institute of Oriental philosophy is also concerned with collection and publication of Saddharmapundarīka manuscripts. It has collected Lushun, Khadalik and Sanskrit versions of Saddharmapundarīka manuscripts. Sanskrit manuscripts it collected are the Nepalese manuscripts which they collected in the National Archive of Nepal, Āśā Archive (Kathmandu) and Cambridge University Library. It has done extensive work on transliteration and publication of different versions of Saddharmapundarīka Sūtra.
In addition, there are several other Universities and institutes which also hold Nepalese Buddhist manuscripts in their collection.
Catalogues of Japanese Collections
Hundreds of catalogues on Nepalese manuscripts have already been published in Nepal and abroad. Some of the catalogues published in Japan contain details on Buddhist manuscripts of Nepal deposited in Japanese collections. Japanese scholars also edited catalogues of Nepalese collections. There are several repositories in Japan, which did not publish catalogues of their holdings yet. Therefore, detail information on some collections is lacking. Taisho University, which is the pioneer in the collection of Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist manuscripts, also paid attention on Sanskrit manuscripts deposited at the Bīr Library in Nepal. It has published a paper on this collection in the Memoirs of Taisho University.
Some of the important catalogues edited by the Japanese scholars include –
Handwritten Catalogue of Kawaguchi-Takakushu Collection- It is a hand-written catalogue of Kawaguchi and Takakushu collection, which gives information on Nepalese manuscripts deposited at Tokyo University. It is now preserved at the Tokyo University Library.
Catalogue of Matsunami Seiren- Matsunami Seiren has edited a detailed catalogue of manuscripts of Tokyo University Library, (Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Tokyo University Library, Tokyo: Suzuki Research Foundation, 1965).It has classified manuscripts according to Sūtra, Avadāna, Tantra, Dhāranī and Śāstra categories which also provide primary descriptions of manuscript folios. Availability of Chinese translation is also indicated in each manuscript. It also gives information on how Tokyo manuscripts are related to manuscripts at the Bīr Library in Nepal and those in the Royal Asiatic Society, Kolkata.
Catalogue of the Buddhist Library- Another important catalogue published in Japan is on the microfilm collection of Buddhist Library, Nagoya edited by Takaoka Hidenobu (A Microfilm Catalogue of the Buddhist Manuscripts in Nepal Vol. 1, Nagoya: Buddhist Library, 1981). It was prepared with the aim of preserving Buddhist heritage of Nepal enriched by Nepal's historical, religious and cultural excellence.
Catalogue of Tokai University- Tokai University collection is also an important collection of Nepalese Buddhist manuscript. It contains Sūtra, Dhāranī, Stotra, Avadāna, Tantra, Vidhi, Stava and commentaries. Iwamoto Yutaka has edited annotated catalogue of the Tokai manuscripts (Catalogue of the Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Library of Tokai University', Proceeding of the Faculty of Letters 2 (Tokai Daigaku Bungakubu Kiyo 2), Tokyo: Tokai University, 1960).
Other Catalogues- In addition to aforementioned catalogues, some other catalogues were published by Kiyotaka Goshima & Keiyo Noguci (A Succinct Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Possession of the Faculty of Letters, Kyoto: Kyoto University, 1983) and Shinichiro Hori, (‘Kamiya’s Collection of Sanskrit Manuscripts from Nepal’, Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies, Vol. 79, Nos. 40-41, 1991).
Catalogues on Nepalese Collections- Japanese scholars not only edited catalogues of Japanese collection of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts, they equally paid attention on editing catalogues on native collections of Nepal. Mitutoshi Moriguchi has published a catalogue of Tantric Buddhist manuscripts of National Archive and Keshar Library in Kathmandu (A Catalogue of the Buddhist Tantric Manuscripts. in the National Archives of Nepal and Keshar Library, Tokyo: Sankibou Busshorin, 1989). Another Japanese scholar Yoshizaki Kazumi worked on manuscripts of Āsā Archive (Āsā Saphū Kūthī). He has published three catalogues (with Tanaka Kimiaki, Catalogue of the Sanskrit and Newārī Manuscripts in The Āsā Archive (in Japanese), Kumamoto: Kurokami Library, 1998; A Catalogue of the Sanskrit and Newārī Manuscripts in the Asha Archives, Kathmandu and Kumamoto: Cwasā Pāsā and Kurokami Library, 1991 and A Catalogue of the Sanskrit and Newārī Manuscripts in the Āsā Archives, Part II, Kathmandu and Kumamoto: Cwasā Pāsā and Kurokami Library, 2002).
Japanese scholars meticulously studied and worked on Nepalese manuscripts. A large number of research Journals, Annual reports, Bulletins, Memoirs etc carried articles and texts of Nepalese Buddhist manuscripts written by Japanese scholars. The scholarly publications are the outcome of their interest in Sanskrit manuscripts. Their contribution obviously led to develop expertise on Indian Buddhism in Japan. Consequently, they have produced hundreds of scholarly works both in English and Japanese on varied themes of Indian Buddhism based on Nepalese Buddhist manuscripts. However, works published in Japanese have less access to the outside world although they are of greater academic significance. The contribution of Japanese Buddhist and Sanskrit scholars in the study of authentic Indian Buddhism with the help of Nepalese Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts is most significant in Buddhist studies.
[*DEAN, Lumbini Bauddha University, Kathmandu, Nepal]
(abridged version of the paper presented at the International Conference ‘Buddhism in East Asia: Traditions, Changes and Challenges’, 12-13 February 2010, organized by Department of East Asian Studies, Delhi University, New Delhi, India)
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